Tech —

Why I use a 20-year-old IBM Model M keyboard

They don't make them like they used to.

The other day, I posted this image to show off my new MacBook Pro's multiscreen prowess. Nobody cared. But I did get a few comments on my keyboard. Which got me thinking: why do I use a keyboard that's old enough to be of legal drinking age?

It must have been about ten years ago that a trip to the computer expo could still result in some cool hardware you'd never heard of or a killer deal on something more conventional. In this case, I found someone selling these enormous, old, second-hand keyboards. I thought it would be cool to have some IBM hardware, so I got one.

And before long, the three cheap keyboards that had come with the three PCs I had at the time were gathering dust. So what's so special about the IBM Model M keyboard?

The Model M in action.

For starters, the sound. This thing is loud, which really makes me feel like I'm getting serious work done when typing. Not so great if you share an office or participate in conference calls, though. The reason the Model M is so loud is that it uses a buckling spring mechanism, with a spring inside each key that buckles as you press it. The buckling springs also give the keyboard its distinctive feel: the keys offer fairly significant resistance up to a point, and then they go all the way down. This is also exactly the moment they activate, so you know exactly when you've typed a letter by touch alone, without the need to bottom out the keys.

It helps that the Model M is incredibly sturdy, and the key caps on most keys come off for easy cleaning.

This also lets you rearrange the keys as needed. For instance, I swapped the key caps for alt and control on the keyboard and then set up my Mac to use caps lock as control, the original control (now alt) as alt/option, and the original alt (now control) as command. This maps to Apple keyboards as closely as possible.

"Modifier keys" in the Keyboard pane of the System Preferences.

Keeping the B in IBM in mind, as well as the fact that back in the 1980s—when the keyboard was designed—PCs could barely produce a beep or two, the Model M doesn't have any media keys. However, that's easily solved with Sizzling Keys, a little app that makes the keys of your choice control iTunes. (Why Apple's custom keyboard shortcut mechanism is too limited to do this is a mystery to me.)

This Model M from 1992 is actually a modern one, because it has a PS/2 connector rather than the even more ancient AT connector. A PS/2-to-USB adapter takes care of the difference.

Surprisingly, this 2 kg (4.4 pound) battleship of a keyboard only needs 100 mA power from the USB port.

I did get two Bluetooth Apple keyboards along the way: the old white one and, later, the current aluminum one. The white one feels pretty mushy, even more so than most cheap PC keyboards. The aluminum keyboard is pretty nice, and it uses very little desk space. But if I'm going to use a laptop keyboard, I might as well just use a laptop keyboard.

The Model M is more pleasant and accurate to type on than any other keyboard I've used. So behind my desk at home, where size, weight, and noise don't enter into the equation, the Model M is front and center.

I guess my fingers will have to join the new millennium at some point, and I'll get one of them newfangled Unicomp keyboards, with their media keys and USB connector. But after hundreds of thousands of words, my trusty Model M still has some good years in it—if not decades. And I actually like beige.

Promoted Comments

You forgot to mention above the function keys you can put pens and other useful knick knacks on the keyboard.

There's nothing more satisfying than busting out an angry email in a torrent of clickety clacks.

Sure mechanical and Model M's are all the rage now, but why I like mine is when I first picked mine up, it was grimey, filthy and smelled like smoke. It was probably from a warehouse out on the floor.Surrounding the insert/delete and arrow cluster was carefully labeled instructions for using some sort of terminal program.I gave it a good clean and it came up beautifully, but I made sure to be very careful to leave the instructions there.It serves as a good reminder of the previous life and history this keyboard has seen.

2 posts | registered May 10, 2012

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Iljitsch van Beijnum
Iljitsch is a contributing writer at Ars Technica, where he contributes articles about network protocols as well as Apple topics. He is currently finishing his Ph.D work at the telematics department at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in Spain. Emaililjitsch.vanbeijnum@arstechnica.com//Twitter@iljitsch

For some reason, I felt like I've read this article before. Or it might have been on some other news website. I don't know...

Anyway, I knew a large number of Model M enthusiasts when I was at school at the University of Waterloo. Prized treasures they were. But the whole mechanical thing is making a comeback. After all, Ars covered the CODE keyboard recently and numerous mechanical Rosewill keyboards as well.

My one regret when I sold (heck, I don't even remember actually) my IBM model 20 was not keeping that keyboard. Ah, that was a sweet one. You can buy very similar though these days if you are willing to look around and be particular.

Try one of those nice A4Tech A-shaped keyboards. I have one from 2005 and it has all these ingredients you find in that IBM M model keyboard, but it is much more lightweight and also helps you keep your hands in a good position.

Love those clickey keys. The father of my high school best friend worked on the team that designed IBM keyboards. Talk around the dinner table was about how hard it was to design keyboards for Asian languages.

Those spare keyboard switches came in handy for all kinds of home automation projects he tinkered with in his home workshop.

I still use my Cherry G3 clicking (blue switches) keyboard from 1997 for many of the same reasons, though mine hasn't been washed and much of the keyboard is now worn away around the arrow and return keys.

Good for many years yet I recon, though I may treat it to a clean now, before I kill everyone off with a disease contracted from an unexpectedly dirty keryboard.

I can so understand the love for the Model M keyboards. If it wasn't for their slightly anti-social noise level, I'd use nothing else.When I looked for some alternative that is more socially acceptable, I fell in love with a strange thing, the Sun Type 7. It's rubber domes, but I love it. And it is at least es easily taken apart and washable. The hard plastic gets a ride in the dish washer once per year, the rubber dome mat gets gently bathed in the sink.

One of these days I'll get a Model M and try to come up with a mod that keeps the feeling and makes them less noisy.

I use a Razer BlackWidow mechanical keyboard and love it. I honestly can't tell the difference between it and the Model M as far as feel goes, and being a gaming keyboard there's some nice features such as macro keys, headphone/mic ports, an extra USB plug, and all the keys can be remapped. There's also the stealth version if you want to be kind to your neighbors. my only gripe is the media keys have to be utilized with a function key (unless you remap the keys manually)

ugh, don't compare anything to the apple keyboards - those guys are the RSI breeding ground.

Gotta disagree.

I remembered the old mechanical keyboards fondly, so I recently purchased one and was surprised I just couldn't go back to it.

I had gotten spoiled by the thinness of Apple's current keyboard, which allowed my wrists to stay in a more natural position. The old keyboards were extremely thick, which is what lead to people using special cushions along with their keyboards to support their wrists.

ugh, don't compare anything to the apple keyboards - those guys are the RSI breeding ground.

Gotta disagree.

I remembered the old mechanical keyboards fondly, so I recently purchased one and was surprised I just couldn't go back to it.

I had gotten spoiled by the thinness of Apple's current keyboard, which allowed my wrists to stay in a more natural position. The old keyboards were extremely thick, which is what lead to people using special cushions along with their keyboards to support their wrists.

The keyboards they've had after the AEKII, excluding the current aluminum one, have all been average or terrible.

I have a Northgate Omni that I bought about 1992. It's yellowed and I haven't used it in quite some time, but I keep it nonetheless. The left [F9] key - it has two sets of function keys left and top - went kaput an eon ago, so I suppose I should toss it finally, especially since like Unicomp there is/was a company that stepped in to keep making them after Northgate itself went out of business; if I do get the urge to use a loud keyboard again, I can just buy an updated (and fully working) one.

I love my Model M. Since I won my own business, I have no issues with the noise at the office unless I am doing a conference call. Then I switch to my MBA if I need to type something. When I got my Mac Pro for the house a few years ago I wanted one for it and finally ended up getting the Unicomp Mac version which I love as it has all the native OS X keys.

I have used other "Mechanical" keyboards and most feel cheap and fragile as compared to the Model M and Unicomp keyboards. And while I will use another if I had to, I definitely will be using my current keyboards for many years to come.

Why? Because they're awesome and they paved the way not only for solid construction, but also the ever-important layout. A key layout that they made an excellent and successful effort to emulate on their laptops as accurately as possible (though it only took Lenovo six years to fuck it up)

I've worked on quite a few customer machines and have come across some pretty horrific and absolutely user-hostile layouts.

In my experience, the best keyboards are always the ones that keep it simple and are not trying to make some bullshit fashion statement... the boring, black Dell desktop keyboard; the chunky, classic ThinkPad ... y'know, keyboards that were actually made for *typing*.

I haven't used one myself, but the Matias Tactile Pro is supposed to be one of the best keyboards with that mechanical tactile key design. It's also designed for a Mac and even has the extended symbols printed on the keys for an easy reminder.http://matias.ca/tactilepro4/

I've used a soak in strong percarbonate solution to good effect, but I had never heard of Vaseline being used for that! The allegation is that the yellowing is not of the plastic itself but of an additive to it, and strong oxidizers (with the help of some UV radiation) can break down or bleach the additive and restore the color of the plastic. Not sure how petrolatum would accomplish that....

I've got one. It's so loud my co-workers banned it from the workspace and I had to take it home. I feel guilty when I type on it when I'm on a conference call.

It's built so solidly it doubles as home defense weapon.

Mine is black, has USB and Mac key caps. Otherwise the same.

my coworkers are a bit more tolerant. Mine is a OEM Dell from 1993- beige/tan - even have the same PS2 to USB adaptor.

At home I have a couple DAS keyboards.. I thought, after the great Orange Juice spill of 2010, that i had to get a replacement... but I just soaked it in the sink for a while, got the pulp out and put it in the sun to try for a couple days. works like new.

ugh, don't compare anything to the apple keyboards - those guys are the RSI breeding ground.

Gotta disagree.

I remembered the old mechanical keyboards fondly, so I recently purchased one and was surprised I just couldn't go back to it.

I had gotten spoiled by the thinness of Apple's current keyboard, which allowed my wrists to stay in a more natural position. The old keyboards were extremely thick, which is what lead to people using special cushions along with their keyboards to support their wrists.

Having polished my typing skills on an IBM Selectric and original IBM PC keyboards I used to be a keyboard snob and refused to use anything that wasn't a full travel mechanical keyboard.

After getting used to the thin Apple aluminum keyboards though my wrists have been much happier and I would never go back.

I'm using a Logitech K750 on my primary Linux workstation and although I wish it had the sturdiness of the Apple keyboard it's not bad.

Mine's a Compaq, similar design.Why I use it ? Cuz the letters haven't rubbed off and it still works just fine.

I actually removed the keys and washed them, but what really caught my eye was the fact beneath the keys there's a layer of rubber with built-in domes whereas nowadays cheap keyboards come with individual rubber domes which make assembling much harder.

I use a model M because I like the model M. That's all that I have to say, because I do not feel compelled to justify my choice of keyboards to others. That's particularly true since most of the touted benefits are subjective.